plus one
by dreamembers
Summary: Seth goes to work on Christmas day, and brings home a plus one for dinner with his boyfriend. (Existing rolleigns, pre-ambrolleigns)


**A/N: This was a Christmas one-shot I forgot to publish here as well as on AO3! I'll be uploading my NYE one-shot soon too!**

* * *

If he could go back in time, he'd visit his 2014-self to laugh at him when uttered the words "this is _actually_ the worst Christmas ever".

Because it isn't. _This_ is the worst Christmas ever.

For some reason, unbeknown to Seth or anyone he works with, this year his boss decided that they'd open their doors on Christmas day. Of course, despite it being _his_ suggestion in the first place, _he_ hasn't had to leave his family today. No, it's people like Seth that have to leave the comfort and warmth of their homes at 7am to stand in a coffee shop that's as barren as the Sahara, but unfortunately nowhere near as warm.

Since turning over the sign three and a bit hours ago, there's been a grand total of five people enter. One of them just wanted to use the toilet, the other four were two couples that wanted their coffee's to-go. And during the rush of people, his co-worker was in the back video calling to her fiancé.

He's doodling on the order pad when the door opens, allowing the icy breeze to slice through what little warmth the old heater has managed to provide. Seth sighs, eyes lazily drifting over to the figure that's approaching the counter. It's a guy he doesn't recognise, a shaggy-looking one at that. His jeans look well-worn, and the jacket he's wearing doesn't look anywhere near as warm at the weather requires. It makes Seth feel cold just looking at him, and he isn't surprised as the guy rubs his bare hands together before blowing on them forcefully.

"Hi, welcome. What can I get you?" The guy's head snaps up, with an expression that suggests he might have, somehow, forgotten he isn't alone in the shop.

"Uh, just a black coffee." There's a rasp to his voice, the kind of husk that licks like a flame in his stomach. He quickly shakes the thought away as an image of his boyfriend, _the love of his life_ , is thrust to the forefront of his mind. The reaction startles him, though. He's never had to _remind_ himself that he's thoroughly taken and off the market.

"Will that be all? All the food is on special today."

"Uh… maybe later." Ordinarily, he's supposed to push the customer at this point, convince them to buy something they don't need. But the guy in front of him looks like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Seth doesn't have the heart to take any more money, so he just nods and holds his hand out for the money. As he works the till, he nods at the array of empty tables for him to wait at, but the guy doesn't even seem to think about it, immediately walking over to the corner with the sofas and settling down.

Having worked as a barrister for almost three years, Seth can make a basic cup of coffee in record speed. Today, however, he's considerably slower, mostly due to the distraction that is the guy sat in the corner. The guy sat alone on Christmas day. He doesn't even pull out his phone to check it, or glance at a watch to check the time. To Seth, it suggests that maybe the guy doesn't have any choice other than being alone today. The thought causes him to ache. At least when he finishes his shift he'll be returning home to the love and warmth of his boyfriend, rather than an empty house.

When Seth's co-worker announces she's leaving to go on her lunch break, the guy's still sat in the corner. Usually, Seth would close the shop and eat elsewhere for dinner, but he just can't bring himself to force the guy to leave once he's flipped the sign. Instead, he makes himself a drink, pulls two of the sandwiches from the display cabinet, and approaches the corner.

"Hey, so it's my lunchbreak, you've not finished your coffee and there's a heater in the staff room that works a lot better than this one. Wanna keep me company?"

The guy looks startled, eyes furrowing as if he doesn't understand, "me? Wh- uh, no. You should, call your family. Or, whatever."

"I don't talk with my family much, and my boyfriend's got his parents at our house right now. They're not my biggest fans as it is so I don't wanna interrupt their _'family time'_. It's no bother, honest. Call it your good deed for the day – keep me from dying of boredom."

The guy laughs, but he's evidently uneasy.

The staff room itself is small and slightly cramped, and the sofas are battered and bruised from decades of wear. But the lack of windows in the room, and the fact there isn't a door that leads out onto the street, means the heater works like a charm. Seth indicates for Dean to get himself comfy on the sofa, Seth taking up the other space, before offering the other one of the two sandwiches he picked out.

The guy looks at the sandwich with slight suspicion, like he's regarded most of Seth's interactions so far, but eventually accepts it, muttering a thank you while Seth waves off promises of repayment.

"Call it _my_ good deed for the day."

It at least earns Seth a smile.

There's silence as they each tear into the plastic packaging, and Seth stops himself from speaking when he sees the urgency with which the guy attacks the food. In a way, it reminds him of a puppy that dives into the food bowl, too hungry to care about the mess he's making. Or a kid who has been trained to fear it may be taken away before he finishes, and isn't sure when he'll have the chance to eat again. After a moment, the guy seems to sense Seth's eyes on him and slows, a sheepish smile on his face as he apologies.

Seth waves it off, and takes a bite out of his own, before finally speaking, "so what's your name? I'm Seth. Seth Rollins."

"Dean Ambrose."

"You new to the area? I've been working here a while, and it's only a small community but I've never met you before, as far as I'm aware."

Dean smiles, "I grew up here, but… stuff happened and I had to move away for a couple years. I just moved back a couple weeks ago. Nice to be back, in a way. Fresh start and all that."

"So, you got family still here?"

Something in Dean's face shuts down at the question, and Seth immediately scrambles to recover, but can only stutter out a couple sounds before Dean speaks up, "think my cousin lives around here, but I've never met her. I haven't spoken to any of my family since I left, and that was like… 7 years ago. It's just me, myself and I now."

The story is unfortunately similar for Seth, and he sighs in understanding, "yeah, I haven't spoken to my parents in years. Couldn't accept me being gay, so I left. I told them where I live now, told them to come over if they can accept me now, but I've heard nothing. The rest of my family are coming around now, though. I spoke to my sister for the first time last week."

"You said you've got a boyfriend though, right? How come you're not home with him today?"

"Ah. His parents hate me. Like, _really_ hate me. They said they were completely fine with him being gay, until he actually got a boyfriend. I was supposed to be there, but then I got asked to work so I figured he could spend time with them without any arguments. We're having our Christmas tonight and tomorrow."

"Sounds nice." Had he not seen the tight smile on Dean's face as he spoke, Seth might have been inclined to believe it was an honest comment. Instead, he feels as if he's witnessing Dean reflect on his loneliness this Christmas. The poor guy looks miserable. He looks a little like he felt at Christmas before he met Roman.

"You could always–" he starts, words rushing out before he can catch himself. Dean tilts his head, and Seth can't believe he's actually thinking about this. Roman's always scolded him for being… impulsive, for lack of a better word, especially when it comes to making decisions that impact both of them. But. Something feels right about this. It's strange, honestly. He can't put his finger on it. He breathes in, watching Dean's reaction closely, "you could always come home with me?"

"What?" Dean chokes, "with- with you? But you have a boyfriend. He wouldn't want- no. No, I can't do that no sorry. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Only a couple hours left anyway and it's over."

"He wouldn't mind, honest. That's how me and him first met, actually. I was alone at Christmas, he invited me over for dinner and we became best friends before, obviously, we started dating. But he'd have no problem, I'm sure. And I'd love to be able to do for you what Rome did for me. But, obviously without the dating. Not that there's anything wrong with you! I'm sure you're perfectly dateable but, I'm. Oh Christ, I'll shut up."

He astounds himself with just how terribly he begins to ramble as his nervousness grows. It's a habit he's struggled with and despised since he was a child. Always putting his foot in his mouth. Roman likes it because he finds it endearing, but he also likes to shut Seth up by kissing him. He's the only person that Seth can think of that doesn't abhor the habit as much him.

When he finally risks a glance at Dean, though, he's surprised to find the other man smiling at him.

"Nice to meet someone who rambles on more than me," Dean laughs, low and quiet, but at least it's more open and less suspicious than his other reactions, "but, uh. I mean, it'd be cool but I don't wanna be a mooch. Hell, we don't even know each other."

"You're not an axe murderer are you?"

"What? No!"

"Great. You've not got a problem with me being gay?"

"I ain't a hypocrite."

 _That_ response causes Seth to stop and look at Dean again, who is now smirking at him, eyebrows raised and silently challenging to make some form of comment.

There's something about Seth that has apparently always given off _a vibe._ Even before he figured it all out for himself, people were asking him (and making jokes). But he remembers the first time he met Roman, and how startled he'd been when the other man brushed away all female advances and admitted _"they don't swing it for me."_ He still hates that he automatically assumed Roman was straight, because he remembers hating it when people automatically assumed Seth's sexuality. But god. He feels a little blindsided by Dean's response.

Definitely nothing more than just surprise.

No flutter of excitement.

Because - _boyfriend at home_.

 _Amazingly brilliant and loving boyfriend at home._

For all his internal monologue, the only response he can give Dean is, "that solves that then. I guess I'd better double check his family's gone before we turn up. Three gays might just tip 'em over the edge."

"Nah. I think that'd be talk of a threesome."

Mercifully, he's just finished his drink, saving the newly laid carpet as well as his dignity, and he laughs. Dean laughs too, but there's a certain glint to his eye, though, that suggests there's a part of him that was serious about it.

And if Seth said the thought of Dean pressed between himself and Roman didn't make his stomach churn with excitement… well, he'd be a liar.

* * *

When Seth walks through the door, with Dean shuffling in awkwardly behind him, Roman emerges from the kitchen to greet them. Dean had _insisted_ Seth call ahead, just to double check, but despite assurances from both of them, it's evident from his stance that Dean still isn't convinced that he's as welcome as he's been told. That's fine. Seth enjoys proving people wrong almost as much as Roman.

He gets the feeling it's a sentiment all three of them share, actually. Dean sits perching on his stool, watching Roman dance around the kitchen, and the beer in his hand seems to allow Dean to open up more, but his voice carries an unwavering tone of challenge. He seems to try and goad people into saying things, in the hope that they'll present (what Dean seems to think as) the obvious assumption for people to make about him. And then he'll turn the whole thing on its head and surprise both of the men in the room.

Like him being gay.

(Which Seth hasn't been able to stop thinking about.)

Seth stopped trying to analyse Dean a while ago. Now he's just focused on navigating his way around what feels like a minefield, and reveling in the opportunity to catch Dean off-guard. He's found out he really enjoys catching Dean off-guard.

"You wanna help me make dinner, Dean?" Roman suddenly asks, spinning around with a knife still in his hand.

"What? Uh, wouldn't you rather Seth help?"

"Seth's useless at doing anything in the kitchen unless it involves making coffee or eating," Seth throws a leg out to kick Roman in the shins, sticking his tongue out, but Roman anticipates the strike and takes a step closer to Dean, who is looking very shocked and unsure. Apparently, Roman picks up on his mood change too, "I mean, if you wanna. No worries if you don't, just thought I'd offer."

"I've, uh. I've never had, like… a proper Christmas dinner before so you'll have to talk me through it." Seth's fairly certain his jaw _literally_ drops at the statement, as well as how casual Dean managed to make it sound. As if it's normal.

"Sure! No worries, I'm a great teacher." Roman says instead, obviously able to brush it to the side and not draw attention to it. Something Seth isn't quite able to do. How has someone never had a Christmas dinner? Even when he was a teenager and his family were barely making ends meet – they made sure they had enough for Christmas dinner. It was always the biggest meal of the year, something Seth looked forward to.

He watches Roman _and Dean_ dance around the kitchen now. They've managed to automatically tune their bodies to each other and appear almost as in sync as he and Roman are. But Seth and Roman have been together for almost three years, while Dean and Roman have only just met. He isn't quite sure how he feels about it, how easily Dean has slipped in, how normal it feels. As if Dean's always been in their life.

Seth eventually steps in to offer a hand, transporting the food from the counter to the table while ignoring Roman's jokes about how little he's helped. Dean just watches them with a fond smile. Something Seth can't help but reciprocate when their eyes meet.

Part-way through the meal, Seth gives in to the itch that's been growing and asks, "so what do you think of your first Christmas dinner?" Roman kicks him under the table, frowning, while Dean just seems to regard him with a steady glare. It takes him a second to realise that drawing attention to it is _definitely_ something Dean wants to avoid. With a curse under his breath, he begins to backtrack, "sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to- y'know. You won't wanna talk about it. Didn't mean to ask."

Dean shrugs, pushing a piece of turkey through the gravy, "s'alright. You look like you've been busting to ask for a while."

"I don't want to pry. I just- well, I don't know. I wanna know, I'm interested in you. Not- not as in-"

"What he's trying to say," Roman begins, mercifully. Seth sits back and tries to cool his burning cheeks, "is that he wants to get to know you and befriend you. He just can't help sticking his foot in his mouth."

"That sounds good. Can always use friends."

"Great! You can hang out with us tonight! Couple beers and a movie, you can stay in the guest room too and I'll drop you home in the morning." Before Dean is able to respond (or Roman is able to backtrack on his behalf), Seth jumps to his feet and collects the plates.

"I guess I'm staying then." He hears Dean murmur softly, to himself or to Roman - Seth isn't quite sure.

All he knows is today definitely _wasn't_ the worst Christmas ever.


End file.
